Borough of Boyertown, Colebrookdale Township and Boyertown School District reach agreement regarding high school project

By
Rebecca Blanchard, The Boyertown Area Times

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The first of two agreements between local municipalities and the Boyertown Area School District regarding the high school renovation and additions project has been approved.

An agreement has been reached with Boyertown Borough and Colebrookdale Township regarding the procedure to be followed in moving forward with the project. More specifically, the agreement acknowledges that the additions and renovations to the high school and the construction of the Monroe Street extension would be separate projects for which separate plans would be developed and then filed with the municipalities.

According to Business Administrator David Szablowski, this agreement follows multiple meetings and ongoing discussions with representatives from Boyertown and Colebrookdale. He also added that this is the first of two agreements. There will be another, separate agreement to address the intersection and Reading and Montgomery Avenues.

“It looks like this will be a three phase project,” said Board Member Christine Neiman prior to the vote. She asked how the board could move forward without knowing the cost.

“We believe we can do all three [projects] within the $61 million [budget],” stated Szablowski on behalf of the administration.

“This project, with the 3 separate projects, will over the course of the project be at a lower cost to our community,” said Superintendent Dr. Richard Faidley, adding that part of the process in this project has been a cooperative effort between the municipalities and school district “This is to be expedient and an effective plan. I appreciate their willingness to work with us. It is to save money.”

Board Member Paul Stengle mentioned that there is no way of knowing what the costs will be until the bidding process has taken place.

There was also mention of whether or not the separated projects will be approved by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

“PennDot is not on the same deadlines as we are,” said Szablowski. He explained that if they would not approve the separation—it could have impact on the project’s timeline.

The agreement was approved by the Boyertown School Board of Directors on Tuesday, July 15, with a vote of 7-2. Board members Neiman and Robert Caso casted the dissenting votes.

Board member Barbara Hartford and Superintendent Faidley participated in the meeting via phone.